Beginning May 2nd, JOHN FOGERTY’s highly-anticipated world-wide “1969” tour will launch its U.S. dates with a special appearance, May 2nd, at the Beale Street Music Festival. Newly announced dates include Philadelphia at the Mann on Saturday, June 27th. Tickets will go on sale Friday, April 3rd at 10AM online at Manncenter.org. And, coming October 6, 2015, from Little, Brown and Company, is the long-anticipated memoir by JOHN FOGERTY, titled FORTUNATE SON: My Life, My Music. With JOHN FOGERTY writing hit after hit, Creedence Clearwater Revival burst on the music scene with an energy so bright, his songs outsold The […]
FRANKLY SPEAKING: Q&A With Barney Frank
Artwork by DONKEY HOTEY BY CHRIS MCCARY Barney Frank grew up around a Jersey City truck stop, went to Harvard, and in 1981 became the first openly gay U.S. Congressmen. During his 30 year tenure in that absurd and corrupt institution Frank has been one of the loudest voices for liberal and progressive causes. In 2013, he retired from Congress and is currently working the lucrative speaker circuit. Frank will be reading from his just-published memoir FRANK: A Life In Politics From The Great Society To Same-Sex Marriage tonight at the Free Library. Last week we got the former Congressman […]
BEING THERE: Meek Mill @ Wells Fargo Center
Photo by DYLAN LONG Last night, Meek Mill, one of the most opulent and admired self-made rappers to emerge from the 215, brought the roof down at Wells Fargo Center. To be fair, he had some help: namely the likes of French Montana, Rick Ross and P Diddy. From the second Mill’s rise-to-fame introductory video played across a massive LED backdrop, his intense presence and persona threw the sold-out arena into a trapped out frenzy. His massive Philadelphia fan base came out in full force, rapping along at the top of their lungs to every single track he played out. […]
CINEMA: Mr. Crappy
Yesterday, Vice released a short film entitled Mr. Happy, directed by Collin Tilley and starring Chance The Rapper. Chance plays Victor, a depressed loner who comes across a website called MrHappy.com which provides an unusual service: you can hire a hitman to kill you. I’m a big fan of Chance since he became nationally known through his hit mixtape Acid Rap last summer, so naturally I was excited to see the film. Chance’s lyrics capture a type of angst, or insecurity that is so hard to encapsulate, so, after reading a quick blurb, it was clear this role was […]
FAMILY MATTERS: My Uncle The Shaman
Artwork by LAWRENCE W. LEE BY COLE NOWLINS I had a typical New Jersey upbringing. We had pizza on Friday nights, went to church on Sundays, until you got confirmed at which point you were off the hook, and the summers were spent at the beach eating Kohr Brothers. This is probably why I’ve always loved my dad’s side of the family so much. Dad is a native Washingtonian, born outside of Seattle. His family is a crunchy bunch of free-range organic Pacific Northwesterners, a clan of artists, and musicians, with a few fishermen sprinkled in, because thats what people do […]
THE DOORS: The End (Live At Isle Of Wight)
RELATED: Jim Morrison, the rock musician, was influenced by shamanism, and performances of his group, The Doors, contained ritualistic elements. One of their songs was titled “Shaman Blues,” and another contained references to “the Lizard King,” an appellation for Morrison himself. The case can be made that Morrison served shamanic functions for his “community” of fans. However, he lacked the commitment to this community and the disciplined use of altered states of consciousness that characterize traditional shamans. When he died in 1971, shamanic references abounded. However, at best, Morrison can be considered a failed shaman. MORE
THE BOOKS YOU SHOULD READ BEFORE YOU DIE
BY LUKE ROBERT HOPELY Cormac McCarthy writes spectral Western epics that both examine and embody (and, some would say, revel in) the savage beauty of man’s inhumanity to man. There are many Cormac McCarthy books you should read before you die, but if you only read one, make it Blood Meridian. This book does two things, and it does them with the same pitiless efficacy that makes his prose crackle. First, it gets its point across, and that point is how goddamn awful humans are, how we lust lust for violence, how we always have and always will. McCarthy […]
Win Tix To See Blackberry Smoke @ The E-Factory
If you’re one of those people who yells “Freebird!” ironically right before the encore at every friggin’ show you go to — you know who you are — you really need to A) stop it, that joke hasn’t been funny since, like, 1997 and B) get your shit-kickin’ Southern Rawk card punched. And punched hard. We can help. We have a pair of tix to see Blackberry Smoke — neo-redneck-hippie rockers from Georgia who work that sweet spot where Lynyrd meets Skynyrd, where Allman meets Brothers, where .38 meets Special and Jack Daniels meets Mary Jane — at the […]
RANT: Me Vs. The Donald, This Time It’s Personal
Illustration by ALEX FINE BY WILLIAM C. HENRY Watching the detestable Donald interact with professional golfers warming up on the practice range for the Cadillac Championship at his Trump National Doral Golf Club last Thursday for some reason made me wonder how a filthy-rich con-man/bigot/phony might conduct himself in a similar situation. Later it dawned on me that the reason I had been wondering such was most likely because I had, in fact, been watching a world-class example of the con-man/bigot/phony genre operating at his shake-your-hand-and-stab-you-in-the-back best. You know, the feigned interest and concern, the disingenuous deference. the counterfeit compliments […]
INCOMING: Ramble On
Just announced, Robert Plant & The Shapeshifters + The Pixies @ The Mann June 17th. Tickets go on sale Saturday at ROBERTPLANT.COM The tour is in support of Robert Plant’s lullaby and… The Ceaseless Roar, which was released September 2014 on Nonesuch/Warner Bros. Records. The record was named one of the top 50 albums of the year by NPR, which said, “At 66, the singer is still a majestic rock presence, at peace with the legacy of his hard-rock-defining band Led Zeppelin, while remaining relentlessly creative in his solo work. But on his 10th solo album, Plant does pause by […]
EARLY WORD: Bang A Gong
Photo by ADAM WALLACAVAGE Creem Circus is bringing its brand of 21stcentury glam rock to the world on March 27 2015. The Creem Circus debut album “Rock and/or Roll” embodies the band’s 1970’s inspired, glitter-glam aesthetic and will be available on CD, and on iTunes. Proudly hailing from the Fishtown section of Philadelphia, which has become a hot-bed for new bands (War on Drugs and Kurt Vile to name a few) Creem Circus describes themselves as “your favorite band’s favorite band.” The 10-track CD was three years in the making. The band’s “hard, glitter, tandem lead, platform-powerchord rock and roll with lots of boogie down soul” style is inspired by legends of glam and arena rock such as […]
BEING THERE: Excision @ The Electric Factory
Photo by DYLAN LONG Last night at the Electric Factory, dubstep demon Excision and partners in crime Protohype & Minnesota collectively tore the Factory and its sold out crowd all a new one. 150,000 watts of PK sound and the Executioner stage setup served for a visceral assault of screeching synths and physically violent sub bass, which sent massive vibration through the bones, esophagus and eyeballs among other body parts. Every kick was a punch in the throat as Excision blew through a 90 minute attack of overwhelming visuals and bass, constantly sending the crowd into in-sync headbanging frenzies with […]
THE ELEPHANT EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION: Stampy The Elephant Will Have His Revenge
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR: “There is a sea change going on in our culture about animals and we are coming to recognize the profound depth of animal emotion and thinking and suffering,” says Barbara King, anthropology professor at William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va., and author of “How Animals Grieve.” Recommended: Name that animal! While these recent changes in the treatment of animals for entertainment purposes are due in part to public activism by such advocacy groups as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and others, the growing body of scientific research on animal intelligence has been crucially important, […]